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Tag Archives: Ava Motherwell

Lots of Projects in the Works

22 Monday Nov 2021

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Allegory Gallery, Ava Motherwell, Humblebeads, Nealay Patel, SilverSilk, Soft Flex, The Great Bead Extravaganza

I’m having fun with a bunch of jewelry and bead related things this weekend.

First off, my sister and her girlfriend sent me a box of fabulous goodies, each one better than the last. The first one I did something with was a sterling cuff bracelet circa 1989. It goes perfectly in a bracelet stack! It is the curvy one that has a design that looks like waves.

Wrist with stack of bracelets - silver cuffs, sparkly crystals, colored ball chain.

Last weekend I attended the online bead show The Great Bead Extravaganza. Seeing Nealay Patel‘s presentation with SilverSilk inspired me to get out some of my SilverSilk and make something.

Necklace with purple and green leaf pendant, purple and green crystals, purple stick pearls and purple woven wire chain.

This necklace uses the purple pearlesque SilverSilk (my photo doesn’t do the color justice) and dark rhodium ends. I also used Soft Flex beading wire and a Humblebeads leaf, two more small businesses that are part of The Great Bead Extravaganza (TGBE). The parts for this had been sitting on my beading table for a while as I tried to figure out how to construct my vision. It turned out a little different, but still good!

Allegory Gallery, also part of TGBE, recently added some fabulous multicolor vintage plastic beads to their shop. I could not resist. They reminded me of some black glass beads that fit together in a similar way that I used in a favorite necklace. I used them almost as soon as I got them. I loved how they all looked together, so I only added some tiny vintage German glass beads from Ava Motherwell as spacers to up the color quotient. I’m thrilled with it.

Colorful necklace of interlocking multicolor plastic beads and tiny glass spacers in a variety of colors.

I was thinking I would make one more thing to add to this post, but I ran out of time and now the week is upon me, so I’m going to publish this post. I hope I get some creative time in the upcoming long weekend (and that you do too!)

I’m Blushing

14 Sunday Jul 2019

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Ava Motherwell, B'sue Boutiques, Famous Vintage Bead Hoard, Meant to Bead, Suzanne Branca, Unicorne Beads

Today I went with family to a local bead store, Meant to Bead. One of the things I got is a beautiful lampwork bead by Unicorne Beads. I had a collection of blush pink vintage German glass from Ava Motherwell that I had tried to use a couple times, but the projects did not turn out. I thought this bead might be great with them.

I first made a bracelet that was nice enough, but it was slightly small and difficult to clasp. I decided to try a necklace, and my second design worked for me. I think the pink Unicorne bead is perfect with the German glass. Pink was my favorite color as a child. I still love it, but usually don’t call it my favorite color. It’s harder to work with in terms of design, I think, because it doesn’t show as well as some other colors. I added in some vintage plastic barbell beads from B’Sue Boutiques with an AB type coating and a couple types of seed beads. I wanted it to be long enough to slip over my head, and I also didn’t want the plastic beads to sit on my neck because they are kind of pokey. I put slightly larger glass beads toward the back and added some vintage pink chain from Suzanne Branca’s Famous Vintage Bead Hoard to make it comfortable.

The result is soft and beautiful. With many necklaces I make, I think, I wish I had a white linen dress for that. This one would look especially good on that. I’ll keep looking!

Bead in the New Year with Allegory Gallery – Final Wrap Up

31 Thursday Jan 2019

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A Man Called Ove, Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Anne's Glass Jewels, Ava Motherwell, Bead & Button, BuliBeads, Dakota Stones, Fredrik Backman, Gaea, Ginkgo et Coquelicot, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Maggs Creations, William Jones

I made it through 31 days of prompts! Whoo-hoo! Allegory Gallery heard their customers say that they wanted to be more creative and take more time for self care in 2019. For many of us, creativity and self care overlap. So they came up with a calendar of daily prompts for January to help us all along. We could use it any way we chose. I chose to complete each prompt in order and post it on the day listed. That doesn’t mean I made one item a day; I definitely had to work ahead when I had time. But I’ve never felt the ease of making jewelry so clearly. It’s like these prompts helped me get out of my own way. On to the last five prompts!

Day 27 – Make a piece inspired by a book you’ve read

This necklace was inspired by A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Ove is a curmudgeon, always annoyed, hence this exasperated lampwork face bead by Maggs Creations. The mix of glass beads represents the chaos Ove feels in the changing world around him. I brought in the purple from the pendant with some amethyst. The beautiful copper claps is by Gaea.

Day 28 – Remake an old project into a new one

I still have a fair number of older pieces. If I haven’t taken them apart yet, it generally means I like the beads and maybe even the design, but it needs to be updated to fit my current style. I used two necklaces in this remake. 

I wanted it to be longer and a bit chunkier. I added the teal beads and pendant by Andrew Thornton. I love the teal with the chartreuse!

Day 29 – Use an Allegory Gallery wood pendant

This wood pendant is one Allegory Gallery made to honor Aretha Franklin. The lampwork lentil is by Anne’s Glass Jewels (given to me by Karin of Ginkgo et Coquelicot – thank you!) The yellow and orange smaller lampwork beads are from BuliBeads. I love this sort of mix of colorful beads. The smallest of the colorful beads are vintage German glass from Ava Motherwell. I was ridiculously happy to get those. I do love how this turned out.

Day 30 – Create a piece inspired by nature

When jewelry artists talk about what inspires them, nature is often mentioned. I love beads and jewelry inspired by nature, but I can’t say I’m particularly inspired by nature. My initial thought was to make something winter-inspired because it is very wintery here now, and I love white beads. But then I realized I didn’t have to actually make something inspired by the outdoors; I have plenty of nature-inspired beads. I have been hoarding this hibiscus flower bud pendant from Humblebeads for a while. I decided to keep it simple, inspired, in fact, by Heather Powers herself. Her inspired by nature designs are always wonderful. I added a couple spacers and a couple of her disc beads, some copper chain and a bird clasp. Done! This will be a great, light necklace on hot summer days.

Day 31 – Make a piece that’s big, bold and over the top!

I had splurged on this strand of rough labradorite slab beads from Dakota Stones a couple years ago at Bead & Button. I loved it and wanted to use it all together in a collar necklace – another project these prompts helped me complete. I added a small labradorite spacer between each slab so the collar would curve nicely, and added chain at the back so the length would be adjustable. I’m going to revisit this prompt. I want to make my first assemblage piece, but I knew I wouldn’t have time for that (or glue, but it’s on the way!)

As I keep saying, I’ve loved participating in this month-long challenge. Big thanks to Andrew Thornton and William Jones of Allegory Gallery for these fun and inspiring prompts. Follow them on Facebook, their blog, or instagram to learn about all the fun challenges they dream up!

Vintage German Glass with Resin

23 Saturday Jun 2018

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Ava Motherwell, German glass beads, resin beads

I love vintage German glass. I love strands of it, but even more, I love little mixes of it. A variety of lovely shapes, colors and textures…sigh. I also love quirky beads and findings of all kinds. These things came together in this necklace with supplies I’ve collected from one source. I’ve gotten a number of vintage German glass bead mixes from Ava Motherwell’s Facebook site. Look at all these beauties!

Every last one of them is super gorgeous. Ava also sells a lot of resin on Facebook and on her website. I always love the unusual things I’ve never seen before, like these glowy unicorns I used a while ago. This time I used a gold plated resin tassel. 

So cute and unusual! I believe it pairs well with the variety of glass beads. 

I built up the pendant a little by using three of the glass beads, including a fabulous little tent shape. I’m thrilled how this turned out. I’ll have fun wearing it!

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Miriam Haskell

26 Saturday May 2018

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A Grain of Sand, Ava Motherwell, B'sue Boutiques, Miriam Haskell, Sondra Jackson, Vintage Bead Vault

I love old jewelry. It doesn’t matter if it is fine jewelry (seeing the Cartier exhibit in person is still one of my favorite memories) or costume jewelry (I still have some of the Trifari, Napier, and Monet items I saved my money for and bought when I was young.)

I follow B’Sue Boutiques, especially enjoy buying vintage items from the etsy shop, and was moved to research Miriam Haskell a little more when A Grain of Sand had a competition to make a piece inspired by her designs. I also love the idea of a woman back in the day making such a successful business.

When I saw these beads available for purchase from Vintage Bead Vault, I loved them anyway because they are fantastic. But the fact that they were from an old Miriam Haskell piece gave them just a little bit of extra cachet.

Oh my gosh, I can hardly stand how fantastic these crystal and glass beaded beads are. Those glass drop beads look so unusual paired with the blue crystals; I just love everything about them. So I bought these four beads from an old Miriam Haskell piece – all that were available. I didn’t have a plan, but my favorite way to design is to buy beads I like and believe they will find their place. And these did.

I got some vintage glass macaroni beads from Sondra Jackson and some vintage German glass matte blue rounds from Ava Motherwell. I had all of these beads separately in my collection, and one day it hit me that they might all go together. I’m not sure what brought it to mind, but I got them out, and it was like they were made for each other!

I can’t believe how perfect the colors are. Although I love this bright orange, it’s not something I really see often. Since they are both vintage beads, maybe it was a popular color sometime in the past? 

I might end up adding some beads to the back that would lift the macaroni beads off my neck a bit. They seem like they could be pokey, and my skin never misses an opportunity to complain. I’ll wear it and see.

I’m thrilled how this necklace came together.

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Vintage Czech and German Glass

19 Saturday May 2018

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Allegory Gallery, Ava Motherwell, Green Girl Studios

Vintage Czech and German glass are probably my favorite beads. In a local bead shop that is now closed, there was always a small basket of vintage German glass strands. Every time I visited, I looked at those first. I like new glass beads too, but there is just something about vintage. Lately I’m able to get amazing vintage Czech and German glass beads from Allegory Gallery and Ava Motherwell.

The strand of elongated givre bicones I used in this necklace are vintage Czech glass I got from Allegory Gallery. I have no idea where I got the purple rhombus beads, but they were the perfect color match.

The pewter horse is by Green Girl Studios, also from Allegory Gallery. 

I’m always in it for the beads, and I feel like they just shine here.

 

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Unicorns and Rainbows

24 Saturday Feb 2018

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Ava Motherwell, Sam's Bead Shop

In a team I am on at work, we have a saying that even if we are trying to improve things, that doesn’t mean it’s all rainbows and unicorns. But wouldn’t it be nice once in a while if it were? Yes! So I created myself this unicorn rainbow necklace.

I got these fabulous resin unicorns from Virtual Bead Show by Ava Motherwell on Facebook. 

The color and the shimmer is so fabulous! I had an idea almost right away. I wanted to put it in a large ring wrapped with tiny gemstones. I wanted to make this resin unicorn look sophisticated, so I thought I might keep to a minimum of color and use all labradorite around the ring, but then I got this lovely multi-color strand from Sam’s Bead Shop, and it just seemed more appropriate. 

My original idea for the beads above the pendant was to use moonstone, but in the end it didn’t look quite right. I decided on these small faceted white beads and “mercury glass” Czech glass beads on purple linen. 

I used a solid line of white at the back to draw to eye away from the pop of color in the pendant to balance the piece.

I always hope things turn out like I envision them in my mind. This one is pretty close!

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